Under the Lake (TV story)

Under the Lake
Doctor:	Twelfth Doctor
Companion(s):	Clara
Main enemy:	Transmitter ghosts
Main setting:	The Drum, Caithness, Scotland, 2119
Key crew
Writer:	Toby Whithouse
Director:	Daniel O'Hara
Producer:	Derek Ritchie
Release details
Story number:	254
Premiere broadcast:	3 October 2015
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x45 minute episode
Official trailer
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Memorable moment
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Behind the scenes video
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Doctor Who television stories
← Previous	The Witch's Familiar
Next →	TBA
Production order
← Previous	The Doctor's Meditation
Next →	TBA

Under the Lake was the third episode of the ninth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales.

It saw the show reprise the concept of hauntings, which was last explored in Hide. The episode gives this idea a much more thorough explanation than previous stories.

Synopsis

Arriving on an underwater base under attack, it's up to the Doctor and Clara to save the frightened crew. But also onboard is an alien spaceship, and the base is being haunted by the most impossible of things.

The Doctor's deepest beliefs are challenged when he encounters something he cannot explain. Can it really be possible? Can ghosts be real?

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
• Clara - Jenna Coleman
• Moran - Colin McFarlane
• Cass - Sophie Stone
• Lunn - Zaqi Ismail
• O'Donnell - Morven Christie
• Bennett - Arsher Ali
• Pritchard - Steven Robertson
• Prentis - Paul Kaye

Crew

Executive Producers   Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin

Written by Toby Whithouse	Produced by Derek Ritchie	Directed by Daniel O'Hara	Director of Photography Ali Asad	Production Designer Michael Pickwoad	Visual Effects Milk
Make-up Designer Barbara Southcott	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Murray Gold	Costume Designer Ray Holman	Edited by Selina MacArthur	Special Effects Real SFX
Original theme music by Ron Grainer  •  Titles by BBC Wales Graphics  •  With thanks to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Sur-Film Production & Services S.L  •  Conducted and orchestrated by Ben Foster  •  Music mixed by Jake Jackson  •  Music recorded by Gerry O'Riordan

General production staff Head of Production - Gordon Ronald Line Producer - Tracie Simpson Production Manager - Adam Knopf Location Manager - Iwan Roberts Unit Manager - Iestyn Hampson-Jones Production Co-ordinator - Sandra Cosfeld Production Assistants - Sion Crowle, Jamie Shaw Production Secretary - Hannah Jones Unit Drivers - Sean Evans, Kyle Davies Unit Medic - Glyn Evans Production Accountant - Ceredig Parry Assistant Accountant - Justine Wooff Script department Script Editor - David P Davis Script Executive - Lindsey Alford Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Dan Mumford 2nd Assistant Director - James DeHaviland 3rd Assistant Director - Danielle Richards Assistant Directors - Gareth Jones, Chris Thomas Script Supervisor - Nicki Coles Camera Operator - Mark McQuoid 2nd Camera Operator - Steve Rees Focus Pullers - Jonathan Vidgen, Matthew Lepper Grip - John Robinson Assistant Grip - Sean Cronin Camera Assistants - Cai Thompson, Scott Waller Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Best Boy - Andrew Gardiner Electricians - Andrew Williams, Bob Milton, Gareth Sheldon, Gawain Nash, Matt Wilson	Art department Supervising Art Directors - Tristan Peatfield, Dafydd Shurmer Art Department Accountant - Bethan Griffiths Production Buyer - Sarah Frere Set Decorator - Adrian Anscombe Prop Buyers - May Johnson, Vicki Male, Rosy Pearce Storyboard Artist - Mike Collins Concept Artist - Chris Lees Graphic Artist - Matthew Clark Motion Graphics - Tom Munday Standby Props - Liam Collins, Ian Davies Standby Carpenter - Paul Jones Prop Hands - Scott Howe, Nigel Magni, Matt Watts Standby Art Director - Julia Challis Rigging - Shadow Scaffolding Head Scenic Artist - Clive Clarke Scenic Painters - Steve Nelms, Matt Weston, Paul Murray Storeman - Jamie Southcott Prop Master - Paul Smith Props Chargehand - Kyle Belmont Props Driver - Gareth Fox Props Makers - Alan Hardy, Jamie Thomas Construction Manager - Terry Horle Construction Chargehands - Dean Tucker, John Sinnott Construction Driver - Jonathan Tylke Practical Electricians - Christian Davies, Austin Curtis Draughtperson - Kartik Nagar Carpenters - Tim Burke, Lawrie Ferry, Matt Ferry, Chris Daniels, Julian Tucker, George Rees, Dan Berrow, Keith Richards, Campbell Fraser Title Concept - Billy Hanshaw Costume department Costume Supervisor - Simon Marks Assistant Costume Designer - Georgie Sayer Costume Assistants - Andie Mear, Ian Fowler, Jenny Tindle	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Sara Anghard Make-up Artists - Megan Bowes, James Spinks Movement Stunt Co-ordinators - Crispin Layfield, Gordon Seed, Lucy Allen Stunt Performers - Sarah Lochlan, Belinda McGinley, David Grant, Nicholas Daines Casting Casting Associate - Alice Purser General post-production staff Post-production Supervisor - Samantha Price Assistant Editors - Becky Trotman, Steven Waltham On-line Editor - Geraint Pari Huws Special and visual effects VFX Editor - Dan Rawlings Special Creature Effects & Prosthetics - Millenium FX Colourist - Gareth Spensley Sound Sound Recordist - Deian Llŷr Humphreys Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Sound Maintenance Engineers - Tam Shoring, Christopher Goding Dialogue Editor - Darran Clement ADR Editor - Matthew Cox Sound Effects Editor - Paul Jefferies Effects Editor - Harry Barnes Foley Editor - Jamie Talbutt Foley Artist - Julie Ankerson

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

References

A MOD property is mentioned, where the spaceship was found, to be underwater.

• The Army is mentioned.
• The Doctor mentioned that once there was no such thing as socks, smartphones or badgers, until suddenly there were.
• A sumbarine was contacted and responded via Morse code.
• The Doctor says the ghosts are definitely not trying to form a boy band.
• Orion's sword, is what the ghosts are referring to when they said "the sword".
• The Orion Nebula is mentioned.
• Orion's belt is mentioned.
• Orion Nebula, Orion, Rigel and Betelgeuse are mentioned on a constellations map.
• The world map is seen.
• The Doctor compares the synaptic magnetic coordinates' effect to an earworm. Something constantly nagging in the mind.

Individuals

• The Doctor claims to have once met Shirley Bassey.
• The Doctor claims that Clara once had an argument with Gandhi.

Food and beverages

• A cup of coffee is standing on a table.
• Clara says the Doctor raved about ghosts like a kid who have had to much sherbet.

Languages

• The Doctor can no longer understand British Sign Language. He believes he deleted it from his memories, and replaced it with semaphore.

Popular Culture

• The Doctor once had Peter Andre's song Mysterious Girl stuck in his head for two weeks, and said that it drove him mad.
• Cass refers to the Doctor doing "the Cabin in the Woods" thing, referencing the horror film sub-genre, in which a number of individuals in an inescapable location are systematically killed one by one by a malevolent force, until often only one remains.
• The Doctor says that humans always write songs about relationships or get tattoos or going to war.

Story notes

• The sonic sunglasses can connect to Wi-Fi.
• The Doctor uses cue cards to give apologies.
• Vector Petroleum is the upper-most in charge of the Drum. The the Drum intercom voice gave messages to when certain areas of the base was under attack.
• Some long necked people were mentioned by Clara, to have been celebrating New Year for two centuries.
• The Doctor can calculate how long a place has been abandoned only by putting his finger in a cup of coffee.
• Clara tries to get the Doctor to High Five her, unsuccessfully.
• The base has a Faraday cage which the ghosts can't enter, or if inside, get out from.
• The Doctor mention holograms.
• Drum Control is where the rest of the base is controlled.
• Topside is the commander of Vector Petroleum.
• The Doctor mentions that his UNIT security visa is 7-1-0-Apple-0-0.
• The base have a submarine that can be controlled with submarine manipulator rings.
• A suspended animation chamber is found under the water.
• Magnetic coordinates were used by the ghosts.
• The Doctor took his radio apart to make a Clockwork squirrell.

Ratings

• BBC One: 3.74 million
• BBC America: to be added

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

Continuity

• The Doctor uses his sonic sunglasses. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
• One of the ghosts was previously a Tivolian. (TV: The God Complex)
• The Doctor has previously landed in an underwater base, in which he met with a crew that were tackling a threat that would re-animate the dead crew. (GAME: Shadows of the Vashta Nerada)
• The Doctor uses his psychic paper as proof of ID. (TV: The End of the World et al)
  • The psychic paper tells them that he works for UNIT. (TV: Spearhead from Space et al)
• One of the Doctor's apology cue cards says: "It was my fault, I should have known you didn't live in Aberdeen". The Fourth Doctor made an identical mistake, dropping Sarah Jane Smith off there rather than South Croydon. (TV: The Hand of Fear, School Reunion)
• Another of the cue cards says: "No one is going to be eaten / vapourised / exterminated / upgraded / possessed / mortally wounded / turned to jelly. We'll all get out of this unharmed." "Exterminated" is a reference to the Daleks, (TV: The Daleks et.al.) "upgraded" is a reference to the Cybermen, (TV: Rise of the Cybermen et.al.) and "possessed" is a reference to various races and beings. (TV: The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit et al)
• When the Doctor goes back on his insistence that the phantoms of the dead aren't ghosts, he notes that they aren't flesh avatars, (TV: The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People) Autons, (TV: Spearhead from Space et.al.) or "digital copies bouncing around the Nethersphere". (TV: Dark Water/Death in Heaven)
• The Cloister Bell alerts the Doctor to a threat to the TARDIS. (TV: Logopolis, Resurrection of the Daleks et al)
• The Doctor indirectly refers to Danny Pink (TV: Into the Dalek-Death in Heaven) when suggesting a new relationship for Clara.

Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

to be added

External links